Tronolone v New York State Dept. of Transp.
2010 NY Slip Op 02305 [71 AD3d 1488]
March 19, 2010
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, April 28, 2010


Caesar Tronolone et al., Appellants, v New York State Departmentof Transportation, Respondent. (Claim No. 111315.)

[*1]Cantor, Lukasik, Dolce & Panepinto, P.C., Buffalo (Stephen C. Halpern of counsel), forclaimants-appellants.

Rupp, Baase, Pfalzgraf, Cunningham & Coppola LLC, Buffalo (R. Anthony Rupp, III, ofcounsel), for defendant-respondent.

Appeal from an order of the Court of Claims (Jeremiah J. Moriarty, III, J.), entered February23, 2009. The order granted the motion of defendant for summary judgment dismissing theclaim.

It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.

Memorandum: Claimants commenced this Labor Law and common-law negligence actionseeking damages for injuries sustained by Caesar Tronolone (claimant) when he slipped on apiece of scrap plywood that had been placed underneath a temporary road sign. The Court ofClaims properly granted that part of defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing theLabor Law § 241 (6) cause of action insofar as it is based on the alleged violation of 12NYCRR 23-1.7 (d). We note that the remaining causes of action were withdrawn prior to thecourt's determination. Although 12 NYCRR 23-1.7 (d) is sufficiently specific to support a LaborLaw § 241 (6) cause of action (see Scarupa v Lockport Energy Assoc., 245 AD2d1038 [1997]), we nevertheless conclude that the piece of plywood on which claimant slipped "isnot . . . the sort of [floor,] passageway, walkway, [scaffold, platform or otherelevated] working area contemplated by 12 NYCRR 23-1.7 (d)" (Barnes vDeFoe/Halmar, 271 AD2d 387, 388 [2000]). Present—Scudder, P.J., Peradotto,Lindley and Sconiers, JJ.


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